This page documents an unstable draft for proposing changes to Wikibooks:Administrators. If the proposed changes gain consensus, the changes may be included in the current policy or guideline. You can edit this draft or discuss it.

This page outlines a proposed policy for granting and revoking tools.

Granting administration tools

Administrators are active and experienced community members trusted to perform specific "administrative" tasks (delete pages, block users, etc.), provide timely assistance when needed or requested, maintain a general understanding of the current environment and accepted practices at Wikibooks, and follow all official policies and guidelines to the best of their knowledge and ability. Administrators are not authoritative or infallible. Community members may either request permission themselves or be nominated by another member. Nominees must be informed on their discussion page and must state acceptance of their nominations (next to the nomination) before any final decision is acted on.

Granting administrator tools is not a big deal and have no specific requirements. However, keep in mind when requesting, accepting, or supporting the new responsibilities that administrators are expected to:

Follow and understand all official policies and guidelines as they are frequently responsible for their enforcement.
Use the tools to benefit the community in accordance with policies, guidelines, and community consensus.
Use good judgment and caution. Seek the opinions of other community members, and delegate administrative actions that might be perceived as imposing personal views or interests to others. Administrative activity is not an area where anyone should be bold or be uncivil.
Be available through the wiki, email, the textbook-l mailing list, or by some other means listed on their user page, such as another Wikimedia project.
Be active and alert to changes in the community. Only through activity can community members demonstrate a need to have administrative tools and continue to meet expectations. Administrators are active and alert when they a) have at least 1 edit within the past month and 20 edits within the past year, or b) have done at least one administrative related activity within the past year and respond to messages left on their user discussion page within 30 days.

Bureaucrats must determine when and if discussion reaches a consensus according to the high-impact decision making rules and may decide not to act either way. Only when no active bureaucrats are available may a request be made to Meta:Requests for permissions with a link to the local discussion.

Granting bureaucrat tools

Bureaucrats are active and experienced administrators trusted to perform additional tasks such as change usernames, create new administrators, and flag accounts as bots. Granting bureaucrat tools is a more weighty decision than the granting of administration tools, and therefore community members should take it more seriously. The same rules and manner for granting administration tools apply to granting bureaucrat tools, except only those with administration tools can be granted bureaucrat tools and candidates must be advertised in the Reading Room and the Bulletin Board.

Prospective candidates should be:

Experienced administrators who understand the expectations of the community,
Well-respected and trusted by the community and other administrators, and
Able to keep a cool head under pressure

Granting checkuser tools

Checkusers are active and experienced Administrators trusted to perform additional tasks such as identify sockpuppets and repeat vandalism offenders. Granting Checkuser tools, like Bureaucrat tools, is a more weighty decision that should be taken more seriously. Prospective candidates must already have Administrator or Bureaucrat tools, must be announced in the Reading room and on the Bulletin Board, and must demonstrate a consensus at Wikibooks:Requests for permissions. After consensus is established, a request must be made to Meta:Requests for permissions. See Meta:CheckUser policy for other requirements that may apply.

Removing tools

Community members can request immediate removal of their own tools at Meta:Requests for permissions#Removal_of_access, automatically qualify by not meeting activity expectations (as previously defined) without need for discussion or consensus, or be nominated by another member at Wikibooks:Requests for permissions. Nominees must be contacted both on their discussion page and by email (when available) to be given a reasonable chance to contest the nomination. All reasons for a nomination should be stated clearly to give everyone a fair and reasonable understanding of why a decision on the matter is called for. All nominations must be advertised in the Reading room and the Bulletin Board. If a decision to remove the tools is reached, a request must be made at Meta:Requests for permissions#Removal_of_access. Anyone may reapply at a later date without prejudice.

Alternative Removal Proposal

Removal of Administrator Rights Due to Low Activity

As helpful members of the community, Wikibooks administrators are expected to provide the community with timely assistance when needed or requested and maintain a general understanding of the current Wikibooks environment and policies. In order to meet these expectations an administrator needs to be active.

If the activity expectations defined below are not met then any autoconfirmed Wikibooks user can propose the removal of administrator rights at Wikibooks:Requests for permissions. It is a requirement that the proposer notifies the administrator on both their talk page and via the "E-mail this user" function that a de-admin proposal has been started.

Low activity is defined as follows. The administrator:

Has not performed an administrative function (see here) in the last six months.
Has performed less than five administrative functions in the last year
Has made less than 20 edits to Wikibooks in the last year
Has made no edits to Wikibooks in the last six months

Inactivity based de-admin proposals may be closed immediately as unsuccessful by any uninvolved administrator if at least one of the criteria defined above is met by the administrator being proposed for de-admin.

As the appointment and removal of administrators is a decision for the Wikibooks community, only the opinions of logged in autoconfirmed editors will be considered. Comments from editors who are not logged in or are not autoconfirmed will be removed from the discussion.

If after one month if there is no objection to the removal (including from the administrator being discussed) then a Bureaucrat will close the discussion and raise a request for a Steward to complete the de-admin.

If after one month there are any objections raised (including from the administrator being discussed) then a Bureaucrat will judge the consensus and determine whether to close the proposal as unsuccessful or raise a request to complete the de-admin.

In the event of a proposal being unsuccessful then no further de-admin request for low activity may be made for three months from the closing date of the previous request except where the administrator meets the criteria for removal due to inactivity defined below.

Removal of Administrator Rights Due to Inactivity

Any administrator who is completely inactive, as defined below, can have their administrator rights removed without discussion. Removal for inactivity is a requirement to protect Wikibooks against the risk of inactive privileged accounts being compromised.

An administrator is considered inactive if:

There has been no use of the administrator flag in one year.
There has been no edit to any Wikibooks page in one year.

In the case of an inactive administrator a notification will be placed at Wikibooks:Requests for permissions. It is a requirement that the proposer notifies the administrator on both their talk page and via the "E-mail this user" function that a de-admin proposal has been started.

No discussion will take place for an inactive administrator de-admin. If the inactive administrator does not become active within the one month notice period then any user may request a Steward to complete the de-admin.

Reinstatement when Activity Resumes

Any administrator removed for inactivity can within a six month period following the removal request the return of the administrator flag. A request must be raised at Wikibooks:Requests for permissions to give other editors the opportunity to raise any concerns.

Removal of Bureaucrat and Checkuser Rights

The low level of Bureaucrat and Checkuser activity required at Wikibooks means there is no activity requirement in order to retain these rights. However, any Bureaucrat or Checkuser who has their administrator rights removed for low activity or inactivity will also have their Bureaucrat and Checkuser rights removed.

Wikibooks:Administrators/Unstable